14 CON ANT, THE PATRIARCH, PLEADS FOR BUDLEIGH. 



probably before August, 1654, in the building of one at 

 the northwest corner of the burial ground, just in the rear 

 of the present church. Thos. Lothrop, in 1656, contract- 

 ed with John Norman of Manchester, for a parsonage " to 

 be thirtie eight foote longe ; 17 foote wide & a leuen foote 

 studd, with three chimnies towe below and one in the 

 chamber, for fortie five pounds," all to be finished for 

 Mr. Jeremiah Hubberd, who was living in Thomas Lo- 

 throp's house, to dwell in by April or May, 1658. Bass 

 River had previously entertained Jeremiah Hubberd's 

 brother Joshua as a preacher, and in 1664 called Mr. 

 John Hale who next year settled with them and occupied 

 the parsonage. Lieut. Wm. Dixey and Humphrey Wood- 

 bury were a committee to attend to the " houseing for Mr. 

 Hale's cattle, "and Capt. Thomas Lothrop, Mr. Thorndike 

 and Roger Couant were to levy a rate for Mr. Hale's 

 maintenance. 



In 1667 the parish was fairly set off from the Salem 

 Church and in 1668 the town was incorporated as Beverly, 

 after agitating and petitioning to that effect since 1659. 

 The same names are prominent in these movements, leav- 

 ing no doubt as to who were the leading men naturally 

 expecting to be consulted in the naming of the town. 

 John Woodbury had died in 1641. Roger Conant was an 

 octogenarian, honored and beloved. Captain Lothrop, .dep- 

 uty, selectman, church elder, soldier, was in his prime, and 

 so was William Dixey, who succeeded him as Captain on 

 the death of the former at Bloody Brook in 1675. Dixey 

 was one of three men chosen to resist Mason's claim, and 

 in 1646 laid out under order of Court the highway from 

 the ferry to Manchester. The first three petitioners for a 

 separate church organization in 1667 were Roger Conant, 

 Thomas Lothrop and Wm. Dixey. 



In 1671, three years after the incorporation of Beverly, 



